White Chocolate Dipped Lemon Shortbread Cookies
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Enjoying the best of citrus season with these sweet, buttery, and extra lemon- y White Chocolate Dipped Lemon Shortbread Cookies! A simple four ingredient shortbread cookie that’s infused with lemon zest, rolled, cut, and baked until crispy. Then, each cookie is dipped in melted white chocolate for an extra bit of sweetness! Bonus? These cookies require zero chilling time and are ready in 30 minutes.
I’ve noticed that whenever the weather gets cold, as it has done this past week, my mom and I make a citrus recipe. It’s almost like clockwork! From our reader-favorite soft and chewy lemon crinkle cookies to our oh-so tender iced lemon loaf.
Which is where these gorgeous (and super simple!) lemon shortbread cookies come in.
I think my favorite part about these cookies is that they are literally 4 basic ingredients: flour, sugar, lemon zest, and butter. Mix them up, roll them out, cut them, and bake! It’s literally THAT easy and there’s no refrigeration time.
Although, I have to admit, I really do love the white chocolate with these cookies! It’s so simple, but it really does add just a little extra something to them. The sweet creaminess blends so well with the lemon that I could have eaten this whole batch by myself!
What is a Shortbread Cookie?
A shortbread cookie, in its most basic form, is flour, sugar, and butter. The word “short” comes from its texture. Since there are no liquid ingredients, the cookie gets a very tender and crumbly texture from the butter and lack of development in the gluten!
This version has the addition of lemon zest to give a little bit of flavor to the cookie, as well as being dipped in white chocolate. It’s a fun twist on the classic cookie that is seriously delicious!
This Lemon Shortbread Is:
- Made from only SIX ingredients and uses only 1 bowl.
- Requires no refrigeration time.
- Crumbly, tender, and oh-so delicious.
- Super quick to make (30 minutes!).
- A real crowd pleaser.
You Only Need These 6 Ingredients!
For The Cookies:
- Salted Butter – While adding richness, tenderness, flavor, and structure, salted butter eliminates the need for additional salt.
- Granulated Sugar – Because we wanted more structure and less spread, we opted to use granulated sugar to sweeten these cookies.
- All-Purpose Flour – Using plain all purpose flour is the way to go here. The protein content gives the cookie dough the structure it needs.
- Lemon Zest – It adds the perfect amount of lemon flavor without adding more liquid to the cookie dough!
For The White Chocolate:
- White Chocolate Chips – Rich, creamy, and sweet, white chocolate is the perfect complement to the cookies. Make sure to use white chocolate and not white candy melts or white chocolate bark for this recipe!
- Coconut Oil – This is our go-to for melting chocolate! But, if you don’t have coconut oil, you can use any neutral flavored oil.
How To Zest A Lemon
For perfect lemon zest, reach for a zester. In a pinch, a fine cheese grater can work, but a zester’s ease of use makes it a worthwhile investment for any seasoned baker. Now, just give your lemon a thorough wash and a quick towel dry.
And you’re ready to zest! Hold the zester at an angle over a plate (just in case some falls off!) and push your lemon down the zester just until you see the white of the rind. Once you see white, stop zesting and rotate the lemon! Continue as you did before and repeat until the entire lemon has been zested.
Depending on the size of your lemons, you may need more than one lemon for this recipe.
A Quick Overview On How To Make Lemon Shortbread Cookies:
- Preheat the oven. This is essential! A fully preheated oven sets you up for success and ensures each pan of cookies is at correct baking temp.
- Prepare the dough. The recipe below includes creaming the butter and sugar, then adding the flour and lemon zest.
- Roll out cookie dough. Instead of adding more flour to keep the dough from sticking, roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment. This ensures the dough doesn’t become dry or tough.
- Cut into shapes. Remember to re-roll your scraps!
- Bake & cool.
Making The Shortbread Dough
While this may sound intimidating, this recipe is actually the perfect cookie for beginning bakers! You can find the full recipe, as well as a printable version at the bottom of this post, but let’s walk through the basics with some step-by-step photos so you know what to expect!
First, cream butter and sugar.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy, about 1 minute.
Add the dry ingredients.
Add flour and zest. Mix only until blended. The dough will be very crumbly, as seen in the picture on the right.
Form the dough.
After years of baking shortbread, we finally found the secret to keeping the dough from becoming overworked…using the heat from your hands! By doing this, you are less likely to overwork the dough, allowing it to keep the short texture you would expect from shortbread.
Rolling and Cutting Out The Dough
While most recipes call for refrigeration time, we found the perfect ratio to create a delicious cookie that doesn’t ever need to be placed in the fridge. So, all you need to do now is place cookie dough on parchment paper and roll out between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 3/16 inch thick. You can use a guided rolling pin to make this easier!
Using a 2 inch round cutter (or the cutter of your choice) cut the cookies as close as you can to each other. This way, you will have less re-rolling to do (which keeps the gluten from becoming overworked!).
Baking and Cooling The Cookies
Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets. Re-roll and cut remaining dough. Bake for 10 minutes, until just starting to color. Allow to cool completely on the pan (or on a cooling rack!).
Preparing The White Chocolate
Combine chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 30 seconds. Stir well. Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth.
Dipping The Cookies
Dip ⅓ of each cookie into melted chocolate. Set on parchment paper to dry.
Decorating Ideas
After you dip each cookie in chocolate, you may be wondering if there’s anything else you can do to make them even cuter. The answer is YES! Here are a few things we love to decorate these cookies with.
- Yellow Decorating Sugar – This adds a cute pop of yellow on top of the white chocolate and adds a little bit of crunch!
- Fresh Lemon Zest – Because, you can never have too much lemon! It also adds a cute pop of yellow, as well.
- Edible Gold Leaf – This makes these cookies EXTRA fancy, but oh so pretty!
- Edible Flowers – Especially if it’s Spring! Pansies, lilacs, chamomile, and violas are GORGEOUS on top of these cookies.
- Drizzle The Chocolate – Not in the mood to dip? You can drizzle the chocolate over each cookie!
Craving more? Here are a few recipes you may like:
When you make these White Chocolate Dipped Lemon Shortbread Cookies, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.
Happy Baking!
x, Caylie
White Chocolate Dipped Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 11 Tablespoons salted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ cups all purpose flour*
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest
Topping
- 1 cup white chocolate
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
Instructions
Cookies
- Heat oven to 375℉.
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add flour and zest.
- Mix only until blended.
- Using the heat from your hands, form into a ball.
- Roll out on a non-stick surface (marble, parchment, silicone) to 3/16 inch thick.
- Cut with 2 inch round cutter.
- Place on prepared cookie sheets.
- Re-roll and cut remaining dough.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until just starting to color.
- Allow to cool on pan.
Topping
- Combine chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl.
- Microwave in 15 second increments, stirring well after each, until melted and smooth.
Assembly
- Dip ⅓ of each cookie into melted chocolate.
- Set on parchment paper to dry.
Notes + Tips!
- To make this recipe vegan/dairy-free, you can use your favorite plant-based butter, as well as a vegan white chocolate.
- If you don’t have coconut oil, you can use any neutral flavored oil instead.
- Remember to set out your butter ahead of time to allow it to come to room temperature.
- Do not over mix/over work the cookie dough! Mixing as little as possible help keeps the texture short and tender.
- If you use a different size cookie cutter, the bake time will need to be adjusted.
- It’s best to bake these cookies on a light colored sheet pan.
Tools You May Need (affiliate links)
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
– Still Hungry? –
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Do you mean white chocolate chips for the white chocolate?
Hi Jennifer! Any high quality white chocolate (chips or bar) will work for this recipe. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any other questions! 🥰 x, Caylie